Police identify found body as Randy Chugg

Police identify found body as Randy Chugg

Jefferson City police officially have identified a body found found yesterday near the Chamois River Access as Randy Chugg, 21, of Jefferson City.

Chugg was last seen on the afternoon of Dec. 12, when he was spotted on the Missouri River Bridge.

On Tuesday evening Randy's family, who had set up a support page on Facebook, posted it was his body that was found, though police did not confirm the identity of the body Tuesday night.

"We hoped he would still be alive, but knew this might be possible," said Chris Chugg, Randy's father.

Until Tuesday, Chugg's case was classified by Jefferson City police as a "missing person" case.

Police said he was involved in an argument with his girlfriend and left his residence in the 1100 block of West McCarty Street on foot. His girlfriend then drove across the bridge and saw Randy standing on the pedestrian walkway. She went to the Noren access to get on the walkway to try to speak to him, but could not locate him.

Personal items of Randy's were found on the pedestrian walkway.

Despite what happened that day, Randy's family continued to hold out hope he was still alive.

"We had done land searches and were in the process of getting a fund set up to offer a reward," Chris said. "I can't thank people enough. Over 3,000 people showed their support."

According to the release, Chugg had jumped off of the Missouri River Bridge in an apparent suicide attempt, and efforts to locate Chugg by numerous law enforcement and emergency service agencies were unsuccessful. Detectives investigated a number of leads after the incident, none of which resulted in the location or any further information regarding Chugg's whereabouts.

An autopsy is planned for today in an effort to determine cause of death.